Ruby Boye, WRAN Coastwatcher

MRS. RUBY BOYE lived with her husband, Mr. Skov Boye, at Vanikoro, a small tropical island in the Santa Cruz group of the then British Solomon Islands

Soon after the commencement of World War 2, the Australian Navy installed a powerful AWA tele-radio for communication between Vanikoro and Tulagi. The radio was operated by a qualified telegraphist on the island.

The Vanikoro radio operator wished to return to Australia to join the RAAF. Before departing, he taught Ruby how to transmit weather reports and operate the radio in code, and during the following months she learned Morse Code from a book. Eric Feldt, the Commander in Charge of the Coastwatcher movement, appointed Mr. and Mrs. Boye as members of his organization.

Ruby Boye on Vanikoro

Mr. and Mrs. Boye realized the importance of Vanikoro in relation to coastwatching, and few white men knew more about the Solomons and Santa Cruz Islands than Mr. Boye. When the evacuee ship arrived, Ruby refused to leave, announcing that she proposed to stay and operate her radio. As well as their own safety, Mr. and Mrs. Boye had their two sons, Ken in the RAAF and Don, still a schoolboy in Sydney, to consider.

With the evacuation of the other Europeans from Vanikoro, Ruby and Skov took on many extra tasks. They had to act as doctor treating the sick. They extracted teeth and arbitrated disputes between the natives.

After the Japanese landed at Tulagi, Charles Bignell, a Solomon Islands plantation owner, called at Vanikoro in his ketch for fresh water and food. Charles warned Ruby and her husband that a Japanese ship was in the Santa Anna area. Charles’ wife, Kathleen, and son, Ted, both good friends of Ruby’s, had been captured by the Japanese at Rabaul. Margaret Clarence’s book ‘Yield Not to the Wind‘ covers this episode.

Ruby Boye

Between 4th and 8th May 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea took place. Ruby, some 700 miles away from the Coral Sea Battle area, was sending out coded meteorological data, and acted as an emergency relay station in communicating reports between coastwatching stations in the Solomons and Vila, the US Navy base receiving station, in the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu).

The USS Lexington was lost while the Japanese carrier Shoho was sunk. HMAS Australia and Hobart took part in the battle. The Japanese main object, the capture of Port Moresby, was denied them, nor did they ever get as far south again.

Even so in 1942 Japanese naval forces were operating north, south, east and west of Vanikoro. Ruby was on duty during the Battle of Savo Island in August 1942, when HMAS Canberra was lost, together with the USS Astoria, Vincennes and Quincy.

Guadalcanal, where the Japanese fought until early 1943, was only some 500 miles north by west of Vanikoro and during that critical period, Ruby was in easy range of Japanese aircraft that flew at low heights over the Island on many occasions. For safety reasons it was decided to relocate the tall radio mast and equipment across the river from the living quarters.

A punt.

After the suspension bridge crossing the river from the residence to the radio shack was destroyed in a cyclone, four times a day, often in torrential tropical downpours, this indomitable lady had to cross the crocodile-infested Lawrence River by punt, and then often walk through ankle-deep mud to transmit the important meteorological data obtained from her own readings.

The night transmitting session was the most hair-raising, because the crocodiles became active at dusk. Spotlights would sometimes reveal the evil eyes gleaming like two orange lights in the dark. In fact a number of dogs and cats were killed and fowls perched under Ruby’s residence were often seized by the crocodiles.

Newspaper article on Ruby Boye

In September 1942, the USS Wasp was torpedoed while covering a Guadalcanal Troop Convoy. The burning carrier sank with the loss of 193 sailors, leaving during that month the USS Hornet as the only operational undamaged US carrier in the Pacific. The Hornet was to meet her end in the Battle of Santa Cruz, in October 1942. In the same engagement, the Japanese carriers Zuiho and Shokaku were damaged. This battle took place very close to the Island Group of which Vanikoro was part. Ruby recalls: After sending the usual weather report, an English-speaking Japanese voice came crackling through. ‘Calling Mrs. Boye, Japanese Commander say you get out.’ The message at this point was jammed by other coastwatchers and she was informed later the rest of the message was unprintable.

Japanese aircraft dropped pamphlets to the Vanikoro natives telling them to work for the Japanese and report the whereabouts of Europeans. On Guadacanal, coastwatchers found the bodies of nuns and priests bayoneted by the Japanese. As a result of the Japanese threats, it was considered desirable that Ruby should be in uniform for the sake of her own protection.

Remainder of Ruby Boye article.

At times US Navy seaplane tenders, including the USS Curtiss, were based at Vanikoro to refuel and service Catalina flying boats. A group of American Naval Officers landed, Mr. Boye was greeted by an Admiral who said ‘My name is Halsey. I’d like to meet that wonderful lady who operates the radio here.’ Admiral William A. ‘Bull’ Halsey was the C- in-C of the South Pacific area at that time. He had such a high regard for Ruby that he arranged for a US Naval Catalina Flying Boat to take her south for medical treatment for shingles. While Ruby was on sick leave, she was replaced by four US Naval Radio men, two on duty and two off.

In 1944 Ruby was awarded the BEM for meritorious service as a Coastwatcher in the Solomons. In addition, she received the 1939/45 Star, the Pacific Star, the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal, the Returned From Active Service Badge and is a Life Member of the WRANS Association.

The letters of appreciation, the photos and autographs from Admirals Nimitz, Halsey and Fitch and the recent invitation to Texas for the Grand Opening of the Admiral Nimitz Memorial mean more to Ruby than money.

Ruby returned to Sydney in 1947 with her husband when he became terminally ill. He arrived in Sydney just two weeks before his death. Ruby Boye passed away 14 September 1990.

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About GP Cox

Everett Smith served with the Headquarters Company, 187th Regiment, 11th A/B Division during WWII. This site is in tribute to my father, "Smitty."
GPCox is a member of the 11th Airborne Association. Member # 4511 and extremely proud of that fact!

Reblogged this on The mind is an unexplored country. and commented:
Every Australian can be proud of Ruby Boye’s service, yet I’d be surprised if more than a handful of us recognised her name.
“At times US Navy seaplane tenders, including the USS Curtiss, were based at Vanikoro to refuel and service Catalina flying boats. A group of American Naval Officers landed, Mr. Boye was greeted by an Admiral who said ‘My name is Halsey. I’d like to meet that wonderful lady who operates the radio here.’ Admiral William A. ‘Bull’ Halsey was the C- in-C of the South Pacific area at that time. He had such a high regard for Ruby that he arranged for a US Naval Catalina Flying Boat to take her south for medical treatment for shingles. While Ruby was on sick leave, she was replaced by four US Naval Radio men, two on duty and two off.”

A woman of remarkable courage. And yet, GP, I will guarantee that practically no Australian knows of Ruby Boye’s service in WW2. Hell, we barely remember Nancy Wake.
‘The rest of the message was unprintable’ – that took me back. That phrase got used quite often in fiction of that period. These days, of course, we wouldn’t exercise such decorum!

Dear GP Cox,
what a great story. Usually, we prefer fiction but here the reality is much better. An amazing woman, indeed!
Thank you very much and wishing our American friend a great weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thank you for another great piece of information, GP! I dont know why, but women as soldier i love more without guns, more in the logistic and nursery branch. 😉 Have a wonderful weekend my friend. Best wishes, Michael

YAY for Ruby Boye! When the goin’ gets tough, women get goin’! Thank you for sharing her with us, GP! What an encouragement and inspiration she was/is to all people! She used her mind, her hands, and her heart for good!
And, yes, it always takes at least 4 men to replace a hard-workin’ woman like Ruby! 😉 😀
I am grateful for Ruby and so many other women who have kept the world spinnin’!
HUGS!!! 🙂

What an amazing story and wonderful woman and absorbing blog, thank you GP. She was very very lucky to survive… the NZ coastwatchers on an island called Betio, were beheaded when the Japanese got there. My husband was one of the people who campaigned to have them recognised and remembered here in NZ…

Hurray for your husband, Valerie. The coastwatchers were an astounding group of people. I can’t imagine anyone NOT wanting to honor them!! Betio in the Tarawa Atoll was the center of action for the Marines – one awful battle fought there – we’re still identifying the bodies found there. I have been including their names in the Farewell Salutes as they come home.

It was hushed up at the time, though the NZ government has paid for the education of their (un-official) children on the island… seventeen coastwatchers and five civilians were beheaded. The campaign was to recognise them in this country, and thanks to Mr Jones, the last survivor, who my husband worked with, there is now a memorial to them in Wellingtons. Yes their bodies are still there like the US soldiers, but have never been found

Thanks for sharing Ruby’s story GP. The heroism and contributions of Pacific radio operators has been overlooked for so long. It took one Kiwi survivor from the Kiribati station 60 years to get the NZ government to acknowledge and commemorate the loss of his comrades to the Japanese.

Fabulous post, GP! Once again you’ve fitted a piece into place of the complex puzzle that was World War II, showing once again that winning it wasn’t only an American effort. The ANZAC contributions were quite important and it’s so good that the tapestry you weave of the war story has more than American threads.

I should have more of these stories, but all too often these stories are grouped together as being from the Commonwealth. I’m always happy to find one that says exactly who they are and where they’re from. I always try to show their participation in the Farewell Salutes as well.

It’s a wonderful story of a woman I would have enjoyed meeting. I confess I laughed aloud when I read that, during her time off because of illness, she was replaced by four guys. The truth, of course, is that they still do make ’em like that — partly because women like Ruby Boye have shown what can be done, and inspired others to follow in her footsteps — right past those crocodiles!

My main interest is getting stories like this out there to be read and remembered – and to introduce people to my father, Smitty. A book is not in my immediate thoughts due to having to locate and receive a ton of permissions to re-write – frankly I don’t think I’d live that long!

Absolutely fascinating, and as an Aussie I am embarrassed admitting to not having heard of her before.
What a courageous woman! I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear that she had a recipe for crocodile having read a little more about her…….